Clamping injury guard

ABSTRACT

A door-mounted injury guard for prevention of clamping injuries from closing doors. The injury guard includes guard rods which are positioned in such a manner that as calculated from below they cover at least a major part of the gap that forms between the door leaf and the door frame side, towards which the door leaf pivots. In addition, the guard has a plate which is pivotally mounted on the same door frame side adjacent a gap that widens as the door opens. The plate resiliently abuts against the door leaf and bridges the entire gap in each and every open position of the door.

TECHNICAL FIELD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a door-mounted device serving as a guard forprevention of clamping injuries in connection with door closingmovements.

Each door is a potential source of injuries inasmuch as the door, whenbeing opened, forms a gap between the door leaf and the door frame onthe door-suspension or hinge side. It easily happens that one or acouple of fingers are inadvertently introduced into the gap thus formedand are seriously injured, should the door close before the fingers arewithdrawn. This danger is particularly imminent in the case of smallchildren playing on the floor adjacent an open door. The child may be onthe outside of the door and happen to introduce some of his fingers or ahand into the gap as he is about to get up and in doing so supportshimself by placing his other hand on the door leaf, thus closing thedoor without first retracting his fingers from the gap. Also grown-upsmay, of course, easily find themselves in an equivalent situation.

The devices hitherto presented to solve this problem do, however, failto be entirely satisfactory, which has strongly contributed to thenon-existing use of any construction of this nature in any doors of anykind in any one environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a guard which offers total protectionagainst clamping injuries on the door hinge or suspension side, wherethe risks of injuries potentially are the highest. The featurescharacterising the inventive guard are defined in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be described in closer detail in the following withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a part of a door and its associatedframe,

FIG. 2 is a view on a larger scale of a part of the frame fitted withthe guard in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line III--III of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a view of a part of the guard as seen from the side, and

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are perspective views of a part of the door that isfitted with the guard, the door leaf being shown in different openpositions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The guard in accordance with the invention comprises guard rods 1a, 1b,1c. Preferably they are formed as hollow circular rods made from metal,plastics or wood, the choice being dependent on the appearance andnature of the door. The guard rods 1a, 1b, 1c are attached to thesuspension or hinge side of the door in such a manner that, calculatedfrom below, they cover at least the major part of the gap 2, see FIG. 6,that forms between the door leaf 3 and the door frame 4 on thesuspension side 5 of the frame 4.

The guard also includes a plate 6 which is pivotally mounted in hinges7, 8 on the same door frame side 5 adjacent the gap, see FIGS. 5-7, thatwidens as the door opens. At least one of the hinges, in accordance withthe embodiment illustrated in the drawings hinge 8, is equipped with aspring 9 tending to urge the plate 6 against the door leaf 3 in any openposition of the latter.

The guard rods 1a, 1b, 1c and the plate 6 are interconnected by means offittings 10 that may be screwed to the door frame 4. As illustrated inFIG. 4, which shows only guard rods 1a and 1b, rod 1a is formed with adownwardly open slit 11a and an upwardly open slit 11b whereas rod 1b isformed with an upwardly open slit 12a and a downwardly open slit 12b.

Fitting the guard in accordance with the invention to a door is a verysimple task. The rod 1a is passed from underneath onto the lowermosthinge 13 of the door with the aid of the slit 11b. Thereafter, thelowermost fitting 10 associated with the plate 6 is introduced throughthe slit 11a and moved upwards inside the hollow rod 1a as far aspossible. The rod 1b is then passed from above onto the same hinge 13with the aid of the slit 12b, whereupon the uppermost fitting 10 isintroduced into the slit 12a and pushed down into rod 1b, also hollow.Each fitting 10 may then be secured to the frame 4 by means of itsindividual screw 14, and that concludes the fitting of the guard.

The guard in accordance with the invention provides excellent protectionagainst clamping injuries at the suspension or hinge side of a door. Theguard rods 1a, 1b, 1c are arranged sufficiently close to the gap 2 notto allow a finger, not even a child's finger, to reach into the gap,whether the door is open or closed. The plate 6 rests against the doorleaf 3 while being subjected to moderate spring bias. When the door isclosed, see FIG. 5, the plate 6 projects somewhat in over the door leaf3. When the door opens, the plate 6 slides against the door leaf 3 whileabutting lightly thereon, see FIG. 6, until the door is completely open,in which case the plate 6 pivots inwards towards the inner lengthwiseedge face 14 of the door leaf 3, see FIG. 7. Consequently, the plate 6bridges the gap between the frame side 5 and the door leaf 3 in each andevery open position of the door, preventing inadvertent introduction offor instance a hand or a foot into said gap. When the door again closes,the plate 6 slides along the door leaf 3, abutting equally lightlythereon, back to the original position illustrated in FIG. 5.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment as shown and describedherein but may be varied in many ways within the scope of the appendedclaims. This is true as regards the construction and design of the guardrods 1a, 1b, 1c and the plate 6 and the choice of the material of thesecomponents. In addition, the spring 9 could of course be configureddifferently from the helical spring illustrated in the drawings.

What is claimed is:
 1. A door-mounted injury guard assembly comprising:a door frame and a door leaf pivotally mounted about at least one pivot member within said door frame for preventing clamping injuries caused by the closing door; a plurality of guard rods for mounting on the door frame so as to cover at least a portion of a gap formed between the door leaf and the door frame, the guard rods being mounted on the frame, towards which the door leaf is pivoted, and a plate pivotally mounted separate from the at least one pivot member on the frame adjacent the gap, which widens as the door opens, the plate resiliently abutting against the door leaf so as to completely bridge the gap in each and every open position of the door, and wherein the guard rods and the plate are interconnected by fitting members secured to the frame. 